When It Rains
by HerRenegadeHeart
Summary: With a deluge of danger around every corner, our group of survivors fight to stay alive. (Series of one-shots tied loosely together by a common element - rain.)
1. Gridlock

**Disclaimer:** I do not own anyone or anything from _Fear the Walking Dead_.

 _Author's Notes:_ These characters just won't shut up in my head, so I decided to write a series of random one-shots that are loosely tied together by a common element - rain. They're not in any particular order; they'll just be posted as they come into my brain. Also, the POV will shift each chapter depending on which character speaks the loudest in my head at the time.

* * *

 _I. Gridlock_

Travis felt his blood pressure skyrocket the moment the first drop of rain hit the windshield. It was one thing trying to take part in a mass exodus when it was sunny, but everyone knew that the moment even a gentle drizzle fell from the sky, every single Californian lost all ability to properly operate motorized vehicles. People slammed on their breaks, honked their horns (like that was going to do anything), and moved at a crawl. And then there were the people who panicked and put their hazards on despite the fact that it wasn't an emergency and they were still completely visible through the rain.

Granted, the drive out of LA hadn't so far exactly been a happy 70mph clip on open roads, but they'd still been managing a fairly steady pace.

But _now_...

He clenched his hands around the steering wheel, knuckles turning white and all his usual optimism fleeting. He shot hot visual daggers at the one idiot who thought he was a goddamn NASCAR driver and was weaving through the other vehicles creeping along.

"Babe," Maddie said quietly from beside him in the passenger seat. He glanced at her and she gave him a small, tired smile. "Take a breath?"

Travis gave her a half-smirk in return and nodded, forcibly relaxing his hands. She had conveyed a lot to him with that single, concerned look and she was right, he needed to just take a breath and not get worked up. They were going to get out. It was just going to take a little longer. He took one hand off the steering wheel and squeezed her knee before returning it to the 2 o'clock position.

He glanced in the rear-view mirror at everyone in the back. All three kids were sitting on the row behind them with Alicia stuck in the middle, the unhappy buffer between Nick and Chris. Daniel and Ofelia Salazar were in the 3rd row with Liza who, not wanting to be far from her son, had placed herself behind Chris.

Originally Madison had wanted to sit with Nick and Alicia, and Liza had wanted to be with Chris, but after Travis had quietly told Madison about the loss of Mrs. Salazar, they had worked things out so that Daniel and Ofelia could be together.

A sudden siren wailed behind them and Madison tensed, turning around in her seat to look out the back at the approaching police car.

"Maddie, it's fine," Travis said softly, reaching out to grasp her hand. "They're not here for us."

"Why would you think they'd be here for us?" a female voice from the back asked.

Travis winced.

Liza Ortiz, sharpest ears on the West Coast. One of the many catalysts leading to their divorce.

"It's nothing," he replied, making eye contact with her in the rear-view mirror.

His ex-wife raised a very familiar eyebrow at him in return. "Doesn't look like nothing."

"Liza–"

"It's this car, isn't it?" she interrupted. "It isn't yours."

Travis and Maddie exchanged glances.

Liza's eyes went wide in disbelief. "You _stole_ a–" she started to exclaim, but then dropped her voice just as the police car maneuvered past them as if she thought the cop would be able to hear her. "You stole a car?" she hissed, voice lowered.

" _Borrowed_ ," Travis immediately corrected. "We borrowed a car."

"It's not like he needed it anyway," Alicia murmured, eyes cast downward, staring at the center console rather than the road ahead or the two adults in front of her.

"Alicia," Madison scolded, though there was very little heat to her tone.

"What was that?" Liza questioned.

"He's dead." Alicia's voice was soft, haunted.

Travis watched in the mirror as Madison and Liza's gazes met, Liza's mouth open in shock. Madison rushed to explain. "Mr. Dawson, our neighbor," she said, voice tight. "He was one of them, the infected. He tried–... he tried to kill us."

"But Mom killed him first."

Travis caught Alicia's eye as she finally looked up and just before her usual mask of teenage indifference slipped into place, he saw it – fear and despair. He frowned.

Liza's mouth shut and Maddie, after reaching back to rub Alicia's knee for a moment, turned back around and focused her pained gaze out the windshield.

Silence fell and Travis realized his hands were gripped tight again, knuckles white. This time though it had nothing to do with the traffic or the rain.

* * *

 _A/N:_ More to come! I have several ideas for one-shots, but if you have an idea for a scene you might like to see, let me know!


	2. Chafing

_II. Chafing_

Mr. Dawson's brown Dodge Durango had been abandoned some ways back when one of the tires had gotten shredded by some debris in the road. Much to the irritation of everyone aboard, it was discovered that despite all the water and other supplies the Clark's poor dead neighbor had packed into the back of the vehicle, he hadn't had the foresight to replace the spare he'd used after his 2009 fishing trip fiasco (which he had told Maddie _all_ about). There wasn't even just a regular little donut either.

Travis and Madison had scouted ahead a bit to see if they could spot a gas station or repair shop, leaving everyone else with the car, but hadn't found anything. They'd gotten off the freeway thinking it would be safer and were in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't even like they could have called a tow to come get them, not with the lack of phone service and, well, the entire state being in the middle of an apparent apocalyptic meltdown.

Then, of course, life being what it was, they were barely five miles down the road after gathering the supplies and abandoning the now-worthless SUV when the clouds had opened up and it had started raining. Madison had just been thinking, too, that she was glad for the cloud coverage, particularly because of her and Alicia's fair skin (Nick had gotten his father's slightly darker complexion, so she hadn't been as concerned for him). Now, however, as her feet sloshed in the rain that had seeped into her shoes, she was less pleased about the clouds.

Thankfully, the rain didn't last all that long. It was just enough to soak everyone through and then it had tapered off, a wet, ill-timed laugh from the universe at their expense.

"Well, look at the bright side – at least we're not in Georgia or something," Travis commented as he squeezed some water out of his shirt. "We'd be drowning in after-rain humidity." All three kids looked unhappily at him and he frowned slightly. Madison patted his arm just for trying.

They walked for several more miles, everyone's discontent growing louder and louder as time went on (especially the three kids, who had been bickering on and off the entire walk). Even eternal optimist Travis was growing steadily more sullen with each step. It didn't come to a head, however, until Chris pulled out his video camera and started filming the exhausted and morose band.

"Christopher…" Liza said in a weary tone.

"What?" he replied. "This needs to be documented. This needs to be remembered."

"It really doesn't," Alicia grumbled, shooting the younger boy a vexed look when he aimed the camera at her.

"People are gonna want to know what went on," the boy argued. "They're gonna want to see."

"We're _walking_. Not exactly footage that's going to win you any journalism awards," she countered.

"Besides, no one is going to see it anyway," Nick said darkly. "This will spread and consume everything. There will be no one left."

Maddie sighed. "Nick–"

"Guys–" Travis started.

"That is not true," Ofelia cut in, a small frown on her face. "The government will regain control, find a cure, and help everyone."

"The government is not always to be trusted," Daniel interjected, a weight to his words as if he had experienced it firsthand.

"Papa–"

Chris turned the camera on the Salazars.

"What?" Daniel shrugged. "Who is to say it was not the government who released the sickness in the first place?"

"Do you think that's really what could have happened, Mr. Salazar?" Chris asked.

Alicia rolled her eyes. Nick shook his head.

"Guys, can we–" Travis tried again.

"It is possible," Daniel said. "In my country–"

Madison watched Travis' jaw clench in growing annoyance at being interrupted again.

"Papa, how many times have we been over this?" Ofelia groused. "This is not El Salvador."

He waved her off, making a "pfft" sound. "Governments are governments. They are not that much different."

"I swear to God, Chris–" The boy had swung his camera back around to capture the rest of the group again, stepping too far into Alicia's personal bubble for the blunder not to go un-chastised.

"Chris, put the camera away," Travis sighed, and Maddie swore if his spine and shoulders got any more tense, he was going to snap.

"Of course you take _their_ side."

"I'm not taking anyone's si–"

"Yes, you are!"

Madison resisted the urge to tell Liza to control her child. The situation needed to get under control, for Travis' sake if no one else's. The vein on his forehead was beginning to pop out. Never a good sign.

Travis took a breath. "Just put the camera away."

"Chris, listen to your father," Liza said, her tone clearly conveying just how _over it_ she was.

"Why should I?" Chris replied, narrowing his eyes and placing the other hand on his camera to hold it steady, defiant. "It's not like he's a real father. What _real_ father goes out and gets another family?"

Alicia made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. "Seriously? This is happening now?"

Maddie cast Alicia a withering stare. "Can you not? Please?"

"What?" Alicia snapped, returning her mother's look. "It's the apocalypse and we're precisely in the middle of nowhere without a car and with like, three gallons of water, a camping lamp, and approximately five cans of beans and weenies stuck in a backpack, and he wants to choose _this_ moment to freak out about his daddy issues?"

"Alicia–"

"She has a point," Nick interjected, earning an irritated look from Madison, an exasperated one from Travis, and a glare from Chris.

"Not helping," Maddie said.

Nick shrugged.

Alicia continued, "I'm just saying–"

"Oh, bite me, Princess," Chris hissed.

Liza's eyes widened. "Christopher!"

"–that there are better times and places–"

"Can we all just _shut up_?!" It was Travis and his eyes were ablaze. He pointed at Chris. "Put the camera _away_ ," he growled, then turned the finger on the other two kids. "And all three of you, _be quiet_." The last two words were low and menacing, brokering no argument.

Alicia's mouth shut with an audible click, Nick held up his hands in a gesture of surrender, and Chris immediately returned his camera to his backpack, zipping it up tight.

Silence fell and everyone kept walking on, save Travis who slowed to a stop and stood to the side of the road, staring at the trees, chest heaving.

Madison immediately noticed his absence and turned back around, approaching him slowly. "Travis?" she called tentatively. There had been very few occasions since she'd known him where she'd seen him get as worked up as he was now, where he'd outright yelled. Travis was the optimist, the idealist. He believed in people and generally always tried to handle tense situations in an amicable, peaceful manner. It wasn't like him to explode. Then again, she conceded, with everything that had happened and with everything going on now, it was completely understandable that the amount of stress they were all under would have gotten to him. Everyone broke now and again.

"You okay?" she asked as she stepped up beside him.

Travis glanced past her for a moment, his expression miserable, and Madison followed his gaze, landing on the backs of the three kids. Maddie gave him a small smile and reached out, rubbing his arm. "It's fine, babe. They'll get over it. They needed to shut up."

"No," he said quietly, shaking his head, "no, it's not that."

She frowned slightly, beginning to feel really concerned now. "Then what is it? You've been tense and… well, _not you_ since we had to leave the car. What's going on?"

He stared at the ground for a few beats as if trying to decide on his words, then met her eyes, leaning closer and saying with no little amount of distress in his tone, "My pants are still damp from the rain and they're chafing really bad." He tugged on the crotch of his dark jeans.

There was a pause and then Madison lost it. She just couldn't help herself, she started softly snorting with laughter.

Travis frowned grumpily at her. Apparently it had not been the bickering kids he had been looking at so sullenly, but rather the road ahead.

* * *

 _Author's Notes_ : Chafing is no joke, folks! It's enough to put anyone on edge. Hehehe. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this one!


End file.
